Chapter 62：Semifinals

Samantha walked onto the arena and glared at James who sat in a chair on one side of the arena while everyone in the crowd behind him seemed be repelled from him forming a large area of empty space. She had kept her distance from him the past couple of days as well but it always felt as if his presence followed her around wherever she went. Her last opponent had left the arena barely hanging on to life with multiple stab wounds littered their body. Each one holding a bit of Samantha's anger towards James.

Her next opponent walked up onto the arena. It was the cloaked person that had sat next to her during James' fight with Garrow. This would be a tough battle as all of the person's other fights had been enveloped in a thick black smog that formed a dome over the arena. The only things that left the smog were flashes of light and during one fight a deafening roar.

Macull stood up on his balcony.

"WELCOME ALL TO SEMIFINALS OF THIS TOURNAMENT. AFTER SOME ... EVENTFUL PAST MATCHES, WE NOW COME TO THE TWO MATCHES THAT WILL DECIDE WHICH TWO CONTESTANTS WILL FIGHT IN THE FINALS TO BECOME MY SECOND IN COMMAND! THIS ROUND WILL BE BETWEEN SAMANTHA THE NINJA AND LUCKY! SO, GET READY, AND ... FIGHT!" called Macull. He sat back down in his chair and looked over at James in pity.

As every match before, the cloaked person lifted their cloak off the ground slightly and a thick black smog instantly flooded out and formed a dome. The inside of the dome was somehow pretty illuminated and Samantha could see the smog only formed the walls of the dome and not a solid hemisphere. She looked at the cloaked person who had now dropped his cloak to the floor and was wearing shreds of a white shirt with some black trousers and a white mask that covered their eyes and the left side of their face.

Samantha went for the first strike and threw a smoke bomb at her feet. Using the smog walls to her advantage, she ran around the outside of the arena and dove back into the clear area. The masked man hunched over and two great, blue, scaly wings burst out of his back knocking Samantha down to the ground. The man's arms followed the wings forming into massive, blue, scaly arms with three claws, and then their legs grew into blue, large, muscular, and scaly legs. Finally, his head and body grew too with a long tail sprouting with the end looking like an axe completing the transformation. Samantha looked up at the beastly blue dragon that now loomed over her with drool arched from one mountain of a tooth to another.

"Y-you're a dragon!?" exclaimed Samantha.

The white mask clattered to the ground causing Samantha to look at the left side of the dragon's face. A large red scar ran down over their left eye that was now solid white. The dragon noticed she was observing his eye and let a roar that shook the ground before beginning a charge at Samantha. She rolled to the side avoiding one stomping leg and jumped out of the way of the other. The dragon swung around and it's tail sliced through the smog causing it to destabilise and collapse. A wave of the smog flew out from the arena as the dome collapsed exposing the dragon but Samantha lay flat on the floor. If the smog had been a few centimetres lower then she would have been visible but it was high enough so she couldn't be seen whilst laying down.

The crowd erupted into chatter as they observed the mighty dragon but a scream silenced them and their attention was drawn to the pool of blood and two sections of a body that lay on the floor.

"ALZOL IS DEAD!" cried an audience member. Macull nearly fell out of his seat as he reached for The Book. He flicked to the most recent page and read it.

"This isn't what I wrote!? What is going on here!?" he called. He grabbed a guard behind him and brought them close. "James was supposed to fight Alzol in the next match but now Alzol's in two halves after Lucky's tail cut through him. Why is what I write not happening?" asked Macull. Guard stammered for a while until Macull threw them to the floor and turned back to the fight.

The smog had cleared and now Samantha was doing her best to avoid the dragon's stamping feet and swinging tail. James rose and watched in shock as the dragon finally caught Samantha's leg under his foot and crushed it until his shear weight.

"NOW JAMES! WATCH AS I KILL ANOTHER BECAUSE OF YOUR CHOICES!" called the dragon. He turned towards James and reverted back to his original form. Without the mask, the scar could be clearly seen starting at the forehead, arcing over the man's left eye, and stopping at the chest where a stab wound still healed.

"LUCIFER!" shouted James. He wanted to help Samantha but the toll of using his satanic blitz still hindered his muscles.

Lucifer walked over to Samantha with her crushed leg and brought out a large axe. It was black and grey with a chain that wrapped itself around Lucifer's chest and connected to the hilt of the axe. Smaller chains continued from the main one and twisted around the wooden handle and joined at the head. The blade itself was like a crescent moon and connected to the handle with metal that looked like the spreading branches of a tree.

"You see James, I have my own celestial weapon now! The Celestial Weapon of Dakra! Or as you human's call it ... hell."

Lucifer brought the axe up in the air and brought it down on Samantha's neck. The sound of the axe hitting stone caused James to close his eyes tightly.

"Dad, what does being a hero mean?" asked a small boy. James opened his eyes apon hearing the familiar question. Before him stood himself as a child looking up behind James. He turned around to see his dad looking down at the child. James stepped to the side and watched the interaction between the two.

"A hero? Well, that's easy." His father knelt down and motioned for his son to sit on his leg. "A hero is someone who never gives up. No matter what they keep fighting for what is right and stops that which is wrong. A hero protects those close to them and stops at nothing to do so. A hero might even sacrifice themselves to save something greater." explained his father. The child looked up at his father and hugged him.

"Will I ever be a hero Dad?" asked the child. The father hugged the boy back and turned his head to look James straight in the eyes.

"I can't say. But do YOU think you'll be a hero?" asked the father.

A hand grabbed James by the shoulder that brought him back into the real world. James turned to see Abigail and Alcie standing behind him along with William, Jack, Mathew, Kyle, Sophie, Ben, and Liam who was crouching down with a hand on the floor. James looked back at Samantha who had a arch of stone over her neck with Lucifer's axe wedged in it. Max waved a hand and Samantha was dragged out from under the stone leaving just Lucifer who finally retrieved his axe.

"He has a celestial weapon now?!" complained William. "At least we brought ours."

"You found them?" asked James.

"Yeah, Jasmine and I recovered them from a remote island in the Berma triangular thing."

"Bermuda triangle." corrected Max.

William brought out his trident, Liam brought out his hammer, Ben brought out his spear, Jack brought out his scythe, Abigail drew the sword James had given her during the fight with the Gods and Goddesses out from a sheath on her back. Alcie handed James a long bundle of leather that he unwrapped. Inside was his sword with the flame pattern along the blade. James brought out the pair of swords and past them to Alcie.

"You'll need a weapon too." said James.

"If you're done chatting! I'd like to kill you now!" demanded Lucifer. The group charged at him with their weapons held high leaving James behind with the sword holding it by the leather.

"Are you sure you want to hold it in your current condition?" asked the omni-god.

"Let's go kick some satanic ass." said James thinking back to the last thing his mother said to him. A tear evaporated from his eye as he charged into battle. While Macull ordered all the audience to evacuate from the arena.